The automation mode enables you to record and draw automation curves into lanes. Automation lanes can emit CC messages, control the effect parameters of their track, and even output control voltages.
Each track can hold up to 64 automation lanes, and each pattern of a track can have different automation events.
Creating an automation lane
The automation screen is divided in lanes. Scroll to the bottom of the list, and click on "+ ADD". You will be prompted to choose a destination, which represents what you wish to automate.
Available destinations are:
CC messages
Pitchbend
Aftertouch
Program changes
NRPN messages (Non-Registered Parameter Number)
Pairs of CC messages (for 14 bit CC MSB/LSB)
CV in (for recording purposes)
CV out
Effect parameters
Once the automation lane is created, simply Press some pads on the matrix to add or remove automation points (events).
Tip Hold 2ND and Press a pad to put an event at the very end of the step for sharp transient:
In the example below, 6 automation lanes are created on the current track:
cc8 has events
cc14 is locked
aftertouch is muted
CV out 2 has no events
Pitchbend has a default value
NRPN has events
Tip You can create a curve before selecting a destination. Simply Press some pads when "+ ADD" is selected. This will create a void lane, with no destination. You can click the lane and assign its destination later. This helps sketching out ideas quickly, and store curve shapes that you like for later use.
Editing an automation lane
To modify the parameters of an existing automation point, Hold a pad filled with an event. Its value will be displayed on left screen and the pad color will change. Scroll the associated encoder to fine-tune displayed value (e.g. 0 to 127 for a midi CC message).
When performing a multiple selection, you will have access to the minimum and maximum values, as well as a parameter called centroid, which moves the central value of the curve:
Muting an automation lane
Simply scroll to the desired automation in the list, and press mute to mute this automation lane.
Note Mutes are per-pattern based.
Tip When a lane is muted in the current pattern, the lane shows an "M" status icon.
Interpolation
When this parameter is active, you can quickly draw lines and curves using very few automation events. This saves memory and time, and can be easier for drawing certain shapes. Upon disabling this parameter, the sequencing becomes stepped, meaning that values will be held until the next change.
Interpolation ON:
Interpolation OFF:
The default status is always ON for automation lanes created manually. However, recorded automation are not interpolated by default, to keep the recording faithful to the original.
Tip Thanks to interpolation, which is active by default, you can draw a ramp using only two points :
Default value
Encoder ⑥ allows you to define a default value that will be used when the automation lane is empty. Automation events are stored per pattern.
Default values are useful to send fixed values, without the need of creating any automation event. It also allows to reset a parameter upon a pattern change.
Example : setting a default value of 0% on the pitchbend automation can be smart, to make sure that the pitchbend is reset upon switching to a pattern that does not automate pitchbend.
Tip If the default value is active on the current pattern, the lane will show the following status icon: "····"
Automation lane context menu
Click on an automation lane to access additional features and actions :
CLEAR EVENTS
Deletes all events on the lane, for the current pattern.
DELETE LANE
Deletes the lane from the entire track. All events in all patterns will be deleted as well.
CHANGE DESTINATION
Changes the destination of a lane, without altering the events.
Note Data definition might change, depending on source and destination types : 16bits CV data will be downscaled to 7bits CC data.
COPY
Copies the automation lane events of the current pattern and destination.
PASTE
Used in conjunction with "copy", allows to paste an entire automation lane.
MAXIMUM RATE (192ppqn ... 1ppqn)
To avoid saturating a device with too many messages, automation lanes can be configured to output at a given maximum rate. For example, at 24ppqn, an automation lane can send a message at most 24 times per quarter note.
Tip While this is primarily intended as a safety feature, to not overload a MIDI device's bandwidth, it can have musical applications, as well. Limiting the max rate to 4ppqn, for instance, will send a message once every sixteenth note at most, which can create very rhythmical parameter changes. This is akin to a sample-and-hold function.
LOCK
With this parameter ON, the lane's automation events cannot be modified. Pressing pads has no effect. Recording will not overwrite the lane events, nor record new ones for this lane.
Tip This can prove useful to save a "CV in" performance, as an unlocked "CV in" lane will always be overwritten.
Tip When a lane is locked, the lane will show the following status icon: 🔒
Copy / paste lanes
Hold an encoder while "+ ADD" is highlighted to open a different context menu.
INSERT
Equivalent to clicking on "+ ADD".
PASTE
In coordination with "copy", this pastes an entire automation.
PASTE TO...
Same as "paste", with the added option of choosing the destination of the pasted events.
Recording an automation lane
When REC O is active, you can record incoming data as an automation for the active track.
For MIDI messages recording, such as CC, pitchbend or aftertouch, the lanes are created automatically, as soon as a event is received (with interpolation set to OFF) :
For CV in recording, lanes must be created before recording.
Note Recording of program changes and NRPN messages is not supported.
Tip To prevent overwriting a lane with incoming data, you may use the "Lock" function (see context-menu above).
Tip Regardless of the ‘destination’ (CC, CV, etc.), you can store 1 data point each clock tick. Hapax has a resolution of 192ppqn (192 ticks per quarter note), which means that at 120BPM clock ticks are 2.6ms apart, resulting in a sampling frequency of 384Hz, which according the Nyquist Sampling Theorem means a maximum frequency of 192Hz can be captured.
TL;DR: For a given tempo, the maximum frequency that can be captured is: f = 192 * (BPM / 120)